20 Rice MBA students travel to Rwanda to apply business skills for global health effort

On Thursday, 20 students from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Management will depart to spend their entire spring break in Rwanda for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to apply their business skills in a developing country.

"This is a terrific learning opportunity, and it’s unique,” Professor of Management Marc Epstein said. “There's no other program offering this experience to tomorrow's future business leaders.”

A primary goal -- and a compelling draw for the students -- is the chance to help Rwandan entrepreneurs carve out a living in a country where most people survive on about $1 per day. But Epstein said there's more to the technology commercialization course than just volunteerism.